All language subtitles for 3. Window Light

So one of the first things that you'll

notice that when you walk into a groom's

or bride's home or you're walking into a

hotel room, you usually have a big light

source that is already there.

Obviously, I'm talking about window light.

Spoiler alert, it was always on the screen.

So you'll often, you'll work out how to

use it and actually refine it because it

is a big light source, but if you

actually put someone on the fringe of it,

you can actually make it look like a

smaller light source.

If you draw back blinds, you can make

it look like a small light source and

all these different things.

Remember what we've always discussed, and that is

we liken light to water.

So if you walk into a bedroom and

the blinds are drawn open wide, there's a

big light source.

It's a big shower head, right?

We're actually illuminating and flooding whoever we're working

with.

If we pull back the blinds and there's

a sliver of light, now that light source

becomes smaller, like I said.

Now, if we pull back the blinds again,

and then it's open up wide, if it's

a shower head, we liken light to water

and it's flooding the person.

If I have someone on the fringe of

that light, then less water is hitting them

because of course, as we've discussed, light travels

in straight lines.

So depending on where the subject is in

relation to the light and where I am

in relation to the subject, we can make

window light look very, very different.

Now, I can, there's countless examples.

Make sure that you watch the wedding videos

included in this bundle and you will see

how I use window light with guys and

girls and parents and all those different things.

Just to show you a couple of examples

right now, here we have a flood of

light.

In fact, it wasn't really even a window.

It was a whole wall of light and

there was a glass wall.

Now, here I'm basically taking the first few

photographs of Mary and the light's flooding through,

it's soft.

The transition from highlight to shadow is not

so great.

Even still though, I'm turning her body away

from the light and the face back in.

We have beautiful catch lights in the eyes,

as you can see there.

She's posed quite elegantly.

Her shoulders are back.

She's sort of leaning forward, but this is

considered very, very soft and very, very flattering.

So as you'd appreciate, the window is sort

of right here.

Right here, if that was her right there,

big sort of wall of light here and

I'm actually standing in this direction.

The more I stand over here, the more

shadow I'm gonna see, but also not forgetting

in this particular case, this was a white

room.

So you've got a big wall of light,

a big open window or glass wall and

glass doors.

Light's flooding through, bouncing off that wall and

sort of coming back and that's why we

get less shadow.

But in this case, it works really well.

It's very soft.

It's very pretty.

It's very flattering and so on.

Also very good for mature age skin.

This is Mary's grandmother and he was shooting

her on the broad side and I believe

there's no retouching on this, but it's quite

soft, right?

It actually works well for her.

If I start to turn it towards this

way and maybe if the light source was

a little bit smaller, then you would start

to see a few more lines on her

face and just the fact that we're photographing

mature age skin.

Now we've mentioned before that the more people

that you have, the less options you have

with lighting in terms of being so specific

unless you're gonna do things afterwards in post

-production.

So here I am photographing, here there's that

basically glass wall and door over here.

So really then the light is flooding this

way.

By pure angle and perspective, I get that

light flooding on the two of them, but

if now I'm photographing the bridesmaids, I'm gonna

put them there on the bedside and now

photograph in this direction.

So you see how all the light is

flooding from the front and there's not much

shadow.

There's a little hint of shadow here and

here and here, but ultimately you look at

the catchlights in the eyes, it's sort of

slightly above the middle, but pretty much centered

to the eyeball and that is going to

be your best friend when you're photographing with

window light because it's just easier.

It's already existing.

You don't have to look at the value,

but don't forget where you place the subject

in relationship to the window, it will change

everything dramatically.

The photograph to my left here that I'm

actually sitting in front of, this was photographed

with window light and the one on the

right was actually photographed, well, actually it was

photographed with a strobe, but that emulated a

window light, I just had her on the

fringe of it.

So if you can see that little tickle

of light, you can make window light look

small, you can make it look broad and

big, that depends on the way you use

it.

So make sure, like I said, you look

at the actual weddings included in this bundle

and you can watch exactly how I work

with the window, but it's a great place

to start because it's existing, you sort of

have no choice, but you do have a

choice of where you stand, where you place

your subject and how far you go.

In this example, this is not actually a

window, it's a door, but let's liken it

to a window, we've simply just opened up

that door or put him close to that

window per se and then all it was

was I turned his body towards a light

source as we've discussed in previous segments and

then I started his face and his angle

of his face by looking at me and

then just kept on turning his face until

his eye socket is completely lit.

Then if I expose for that highlight in

his face, in other words, I want detail

in the broadest highlight on his face, then

everything's gonna go quite darker.

I've deliberately placed his profile in that little

corner so I give it a little bit

of a contrast and this light spilling here

was actually the light coming from that doorway

as well, but again, we're considering it sort

of window light.

So if you're, let's say you're picking up

this sort of, this bundle for the very

first time as a photographer and haven't really

started any other photographers or work or anything

like that, window light is a great place

to start.

Simply put, place a practice subject right in

front of that window and then move all

around, work out what happens when you simply

change their angle, your subject's angle and where

you stand and the perspective and you'll be

amazed on how well you can use it.

It's somewhat less intimidating because the light's already

existing, it's already there.

We don't really have to work out the

value, we're sort of just, you know, the

light is there, the sun's coming through, whether

the sun's hitting it directly, whether it's just

flooding with open shade and that becomes the

light source, but just remember that if you

liken light to water, this is a big

shower head and depending if you want to

get everyone wet on one side or the

other, you will basically stand in different positions.

So practice with window light, it'll make everything

easier.